Municipio

Municipio, in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America, a local civil administrative subdivision recognized by the national government. It may comprise one village or community, as is usual in Guatemala, or it may comprise a number of separate communities, as is usual in Mexico. A municipio of several villages always has a head village, or cabecera, in which is centred the national government’s local offices and the Roman Catholic local hierarchy. It also commonly serves as a social centre for the province, region, or district.

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At its most basic level, local government is administered by more than 2,000 units called municipios (“municipalities”), which may be entirely urban or consist of a town or central village as well as its hinterland. Members of municipio governments are typically elected for three-year terms.

Rural settlements tend to radiate around the cabeceras (county seats) of the hundreds of municipios (municipalities) into which the country is divided. The living conditions in the vast majority of these settlements contrast sharply with the modern amenities of Guatemala City. Running water and up-to-date sanitary...

The territorial unit that has prime importance for most Mesoamerican peoples is the municipio, a unit roughly corresponding to a county in Great Britain or the United States. Each municipio has a municipal centre where most civic, religious, and marketing activities take place. In the modern pattern, this centre is the...